A Virginia man was sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison this week for embezzling more than a half million dollars from ABM Industries.
John Babsa, a 34-year-old former manager of the Northern Virginia branch of New York-based ABM Industries, pleaded guilty to one count of felony embezzlement at his July 27 trial. The former manager also paid $583,000 in restitution directly to ABM Industries via his attorney.
Babsa was hired as an account manager by ABM Industries in 2013, and oversaw payroll services for subcontractors, according to court documents. His work included getting reimbursed payroll and bonuses for ABM subcontractors from the company, and from 2015 to 2019, he received payroll and bonuses for five contractors he created and who never existed.
Babsa created shadow bank accounts for the fake employees, using the personal information of family members to fill in the blanks. He then deposited the checks into the accounts.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter said that the crime was not a “fleeting moment of weakness” on Babsa’s part, who treated ABM Industries as “his personal bank.”
“When a valued employee of a corporation abuses his position for his own gain, more than money is lost,” Porter said. “So is the trust of the owners and other employees of the company. It is unusual for a person convicted of financial crimes to be sent to the penitentiary, and the significant sentence handed down by the Court in this case is illustrative of the gravity of this crime.”
An additional 10-and-a-half years of the Babsa’s sentence was suspended, provided that he perform supervised probation for three years, have no contact with ABM Industries and have uniform good behavior for 20 years after he is released from prison.
The case was investigated by the Alexandria Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Harsh Voruganti.
Babsa is being held in the William G. Truesdale Alexandria Adult Detention Center and will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Multiple people from DC, Maryland and Virginia have been charged with felonies in Alexandria within the last several months as part of an alleged scheme to get driver’s and commercial driver’s licenses with forged documents, ALXnow has learned.
On May 5, 2022, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles discovered fraudulent out-of-state driving records being used to get driver’s licenses and commercial driver’s licenses, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit filed in the Alexandria Circuit Court by DMV’s law enforcement division.
That was when an “observant DMV customer service representative” alerted DMV law enforcement of suspected wrongdoing, said Pam Goheen, assistant commissioner for communications for Virginia DMV.
Seven people have been arrested in Alexandria in connection to the ongoing investigation, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
“The case involves charges in multiple jurisdictions in Virginia, and obviously the defendants reside outside of Virginia,” Porter said. “As this is an ongoing investigation, my office cannot comment on the evidence, the charges, or our trial strategy. Anyone charged is presumed to be innocent and the Commonwealth bears the burden of proving every element of any charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt in a competent court of law.”
As of April 3, DMV has uncovered 94 cases of fraudulently issued licenses from altered driving records and altered residency documents, according to the search warrant affidavit. Additionally, those arrested referred investigators to an Instagram account that advertised the documents for sale.
“The seller required the purchasers to pay via Cash App and the documents would be emailed (and) printed off by the purchaser,” the search warrant affidavit said. “One individual provided screenshots of the advertisement from the Instagram account as well as instant messages describing how to obtain the Virginia license and which DMV office to go to.”
DMV found that transcripts were changed to show that the person listed had a valid driver’s or commercial driver’s license from the jurisdiction they live in “when in fact they did not,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
Goheen said that the investigation is ongoing. She did not say which DMV locations were targeted, except that some of the offenses occurred in several regions, including Northern Virginia.
“DMV has canceled licenses that were obtained illegally in this case, and additional arrests and charges are expected,” Goheen said. “It is inappropriate at this time to provide details of the activity until the investigation is complete and arrest warrants are served. However, DMV has taken steps to prevent future instances of the activity.”
So far, a 30-year-old man from Capital Heights, Maryland, is the only suspect found guilty. The man was initially charged with obtaining a license by fraud, a felony punishable by up to a year in prison and/or a $2500 fine, but the charge was downgraded to unauthorized use of DMV materials, which is a misdemeanor. He was found guilty on Jan. 24 and sentenced to 30 days in jail, all of which was suspended. He was also charged $214, which is now past due, according to court records.
Each suspect arrested in Alexandria was released on bond, or on their own recognizance, according to court records.
The other suspects include:
- A 28-year-old D.C. man — Charged with obtaining a license by fraud and forging public records. The offense allegedly occurred on October 29, 2022, he was arrested on April 12 and goes to court to have an attorney appointed to him on May 19
- A 29-year-old Hyattsville, Maryland, woman — Charged with obtaining a license by fraud and forging public records. The offense allegedly occurred on January, 19 2023, she was arrested on Feb. 2 and has a preliminary hearing on May 26
- A 38-year-old Waldorf, Maryland, woman —Â Charged with obtaining a license by fraud and forging public records. The offense allegedly occurred on May 22, 2022, she was arrested on March 26 and has a preliminary hearing on May 26
- A 28-year-old D.C. man — Charged with obtaining a license by fraud. The offense allegedly occurred on October 22.2022, he was arrested on March 15 and has a preliminary hearing on May 24
- A 41-year-old Clinton, Maryland, man —Â Charged with forgery and obtaining a license by fraud. The offense allegedly occurred on April 24, which is the same day he was arrested. His preliminary hearing is on June 23
- A 59-year-old D.C. man — Charged with obtaining a license by fraud. The offense allegedly occurred on March 3, he was arrested on April 26 and goes to court for an arraignment on May 10
(Updated 5:30 p.m.) A 45-year-old Fairfax County man was sentenced to 10 years in prison last Thursday for a 2022 crash on Duke Street that killed a Fairfax County man and injured four others.
Carlos Kami Adar McKethan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs in connection with the death of 39-year-old Bizuayehu Bulti on the night of Feb. 22, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
McKethan, who drove a silver SUV, was high on Phencyclidine (PCP) when he attempted to pass a bus at 110 miles per hour.
“McKethan did not slow down as he swerved around Mr. Bulti’s vehicle into oncoming traffic,” Porter said. “McKethan struck the back of Mr. Bulti’s vehicle, sending it crashing into another vehicle and spinning further down Duke Street. McKethan’s SUV spun out in the opposite direction, crashing into two vehicles that had been stopped at the westbound light.”
Bulti, who left behind a family he was supporting in Ethiopia, was driving home from his job at Virginia Hospital Center when the crash occurred.
The speed was verified by the Event Data Recorder in McKethan’s vehicle and his blood contained 0.04 mg/L of PCP, according to court records.
“This significant sentence imposed in this case holds the defendant accountable for his extremely reckless actions,” Porter said. “PCP is a dangerous drug, and the combination of drug use and immense speed caused a tragedy in this case. My thoughts are with Mr. Bulti’s family and with the other citizens who were injured as a result of the defendant’s crimes.”
Five vehicles were totaled in the crash, which occurred at around 11:50 p.m in the 3200 block of Duke Street. The crash left one person critically injured, two people seriously injured and two people with minor injuries, according to the Alexandria Police Department.
Porter continued, “Mr. Bulti was freed from the vehicle within minutes, but he soon succumbed to his injuries. Four additional victims suffered injuries, and all five cars were totaled.”
McKethan was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 10 years suspended on condition of supervised probation for five years and uniform good behavior for 10 years.
He is currently held in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center and will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
News Release:: APD Investigates a Multi-Vehicle Crash
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a multi-vehicle crash that occurred late Tuesday evening.
Read more — https://t.co/5SKU5NPdKt pic.twitter.com/fiyLoqugYZ
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 23, 2022
Image via Google Maps
A 23-year-old West End man pleaded guilty today to a two-count murder indictment alleging that he fatally shot his brother with a rifle.
Enoc Cruz Villafuerte pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree and another count of shooting in the commission of murder in connection to the death of his 24-year-old brother Jonathan Cruz Villafuerte.
Villafuerte, who is being held without bond in the Alexandria jail, admitted to shooting his brother in the chest with a .380 “assault-style” rifle in the living room of their father’s apartment in the 1400 block of N. Beauregard Street on the morning of June 6, 2022, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
“There were no signs of a fight or struggle between Enoc and Jonathan, and Enoc confirmed with police that he and Jonathan were not arguing or fighting prior to him shooting Jonathan,” Porter said in a release. “Jonathan suffered one gunshot wound to the right side of his chest and was pronounced dead on-scene.”
Villafuerte will be sentenced on April 20. He faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison for the murder in the second-degree charge and a maximum of five years in prison for the shooting in the commission of murder charge.
After a lengthy trial, a hung jury couldn’t reach a verdict against a 24-year-old California man accused of murdering a man in the West End in 2020, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney will retry the case in February.
On Thursday (Dec. 15), the jury remained deadlocked on whether Ahmed Mohammed Shareef should be charged with murder or manslaughter in the Nov. 2020 shooting death of 23-year old Yousef Omar. The jury did, however, find Shareef guilty of racketeering with 20 others for operating a drug trafficking organization between the D.C. Metro area and Los Angeles, California.
Shareef is claiming self-defense and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He will be retried for the murder charge on February 16, Alexandria’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter told ALXnow.
“The jury trial was extremely lengthy,” Porter said. “It started the very beginning of November, and was a six-week trial. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury convicted him of racketeering, but was unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge. The case has been continued to February 16.”
Sentencing is being withheld for the racketeering charges until the conclusion of the upcoming murder trial. Shareef faces life in prison for the murder charge and up to 40 years for the racketeering charge.
Omar was found shot multiple times in the driver’s seat of a 2016 silver Mercedes E350 on the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 17, 2020. A firearm was found near Omar’s body, as well as numerous shell casings, indicating that he fired at his attacker. A half-hour after the shooting, Shareef checked himself into Howard University Hospital with a gunshot wound, police said in a search warrant affidavit.
The investigation of the drug trafficking organization resulted in the arrest of 20 individuals, including Shareef, and the seizure of $500,000 worth of marijuana, nearly $275,000 in cash, 23 firearms, cocaine and other drugs, digital scales, money counters, fake identifications and a number of vehicles.
“The investigation also revealed that the likely motive (of the murder) was over an unresolved drug debt and potential interference by the victim to pry customers away from the (drug trafficking organization),” police said in a search warrant affidavit.
A witness told police that they saw Shareef and Omar in the Mercedes, parked across the street from the Newport Village apartment complex near Fort Ward Park.
The witness saw Shareef “exit the vehicle and proceed to shoot the victim multiple times as he sat in the driver’s seat, striking him multiple times,” according to the search warrant affidavit. “The suspect then ran to a waiting vehicle, entering the front passenger seat and fleeing the scene.”
The incident was the third and final homicide of 2020.
A police investigation determined that Shareef and his co-conspirators ferried marijuana from Los Angeles to the D.C. Metro area in large suitcases on commercial airliners. In many instances, the suspect who checked the baggage in California would not get on flights and the bags, with different names on identification tags, would be picked up by other suspects in Virginia. The marijuana in the luggage was found in vacuum-sealed bags.
“The method included top tier traffickers purchasing flights for individuals and packing large suitcases with other materials to conceal large quantities of marijuana, ensuring that the bag was checked approximately 50 minutes before the flight left and would often be picked up by different individuals at DCA (Washington Reagan International Airport) and IAD (Dulles International) airports in the Commonwealth,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
(The story previously said incorrectly that Shareef is defending himself. That is not accurate. He is instead claiming self-defense.)
A man acquitted by reason of insanity for a brutal stabbing death in Old Town has been ordered to stay off all social media except LinkedIn.
The news came Thursday afternoon, after 38-year-old Pankaj Bhasin was ordered by the Alexandria Circuit Court to stay off the websites after lying about himself and his whereabouts during a period that he was in prison for murder.
Bhasin was conditionally released from the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services in May — four years after stabbing 65-year-old Brad Jackson to death with a box cutter. Bhasin said that he thought Jackson was a werewolf, and stabbed him 53 times. He was conditionally released on May 27, 2022, after being diagnosed as bipolar by five doctors and found not guilty by reason of insanity in July 2019.
After his release, Bhasin opened a Facebook page where he listed that he was in India at the time of the murder, according to court records. He also created dating application profiles and wrote that he’d recently returned from traveling for two years.
“I’m an easy going adventurer who believes in a universal connection with all and love to explore n try new things,” Bhasin wrote on a dating app, according to the motion to amend the terms of his conditional release. “Also, recently getting back from two years of travel…”
Bhasin also wrote that he is interested in “travel, kayaking, dancing, photography, camping, reading, concert n all things fun,” and that he has an ENFP-A personality — someone who is extraverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving.
Bhasin’s attorney, Peter Greenspun, sent out a statement that Bhasin is “doing extremely well,” but did not discuss the decision of the court. He said that Bhasin is remorseful for Jackson’s death.
“Mr. Bhasin is not on any social media or dating sites,” Greenspun said. “He has and will continue to follow all of the directions of the City of Alexandria Circuit Court.”
A review hearing is scheduled for December to assess Bhasin’s release.
A 21-year-old Alexandria man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Sept. 30, 2020, murder of John Pope in the West End.
On June 30, Tavon Marquis Lanier was sentenced to 73 years in prison — with all but 20 years suspended — for his convictions of second-degree murder, two counts of using a firearm in commission of a felony, grand larceny and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
When released from prison, Lanier will be on supervised probation for 10 years.
Pope was shot to death on Sept. 30 at his home in the 5900 block of Quantrell Avenue in the Mayflower Square apartment complex. He later died at the hospital. It was the second murder (of three) that occurred in Alexandria in 2020.
“The investigation showed that on September 30, 2020, Lanier shot and killed John Pope in his apartment located on Quantrell Avenue while attempting to steal prescription drugs lawfully prescribed to Pope,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter said in a release. “After the shooting, Lanier took the prescription drugs and made good his escape.”
Lanier was released on bond just eight days before Pope was killed. He was arrested on Sept. 22 for for allegedly breaking into his girlfriend’s apartment, stalking and threatening her and was released on bond by the magistrate’s office.
Lanier is held at the Alexandria Adult Detention Center and will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Photo via Facebook
A 44-year-old Fairfax County man was arrested on June 22 and faces multiple charges for a February 22 crash on Duke Street that resulted in the death of a driver and injuries to other drivers.
Carlos Kami Adar McKethan was arrested subsequent to a direct Grand Jury indictment charging him with aggravated vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of Phencyclidine (PCP), according to the office of Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
“It is alleged the defendant was the driver of a vehicle which struck another vehicle,” Porter’s office said in a release. “As a result of the collision, the driver of the struck vehicle was killed.”
McKethan is being held without bail in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center awaiting trial. No trial date has been set.
Five vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred at around at around 11:50 p.m. in the 3200 block of Duke Street. Three people were trapped in two different vehicles after the crash.
“The crash resulted in one fatality, one critical injury, one serious injury, and two minor injuries,” Alexandria Police said in a release. “Preliminary investigation suggests speed may have been a contributing factor in this incident.”
Vehicular manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and driving under the influence of PCP is punishable by up to a year in jail.
News Release:: APD Investigates a Multi-Vehicle Crash
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a multi-vehicle crash that occurred late Tuesday evening.
Read more — https://t.co/5SKU5NPdKt pic.twitter.com/fiyLoqugYZ
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 23, 2022
Map via Google Maps
Three men are facing years behind bars for the January shooting in a West End 7-Eleven parking lot that left a bystander shot in the neck.
On March 14, the Alexandria Grand Jury charged city residents Maurice Turner, 18, and Donovan Copeland, 20, and Fairfax County resident Damonte Martin, 21, with three felonies: malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle.
The incident occurred on Jan. 9 at around 3:20 p.m. in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at 30 S. South Reynolds Street. The Alexandria Police Department reported that two of the suspects left the store, got into a parked car and then fired multiple shots at another car.
“During the shooting, an innocent bystander was shot in the neck and transported to the hospital,” according to the office of Alexandria’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter. “The victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.”
The trio were pulled over and arrested shortly after the incident by Alexandria Police.
The men will be tried together, and a trial date has not been set. They are being held without bond in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center.
The malicious wounding charge is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison; the shooting at an occupied vehicle charge is punishable by up to 10 years; and the use of a firearm in commission of a felony charge is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of three years.
The George Washington Birthday Parade returned to Alexandria on Monday after a two year hiatus. The streets of Old Town were lined with celebration for Washington’s 290th birthday.
Alexandria’s health care workers and first responders marched as parade grand marshals. The parade, which started at Gibbon and Fairfax Streets and snaked around City Hall, was attended by thousands. The event is the largest of its kind in the world honoring the founding father and first president.
